Global reaction to remarkable Assen weekend

Valentino Rossi’s superb Assen victory and the heroics of his World Champion teammate Jorge Lorenzo at Round 7 on Saturday had some of the world’s leading media outlets and social media networks buzzing with praise after the race.

The highly respected UK-based newspaper The Guardian ran the headline ‘Valentino Rossi rolls back the years with victory in Dutch MotoGP’, going on to state that ‘Rossi celebrated his first victory since returning to Yamaha and his 80th win in the premier class.’

CNN also enthused, ‘Rossi snapped a near three-year victory drought in MotoGP by claiming the Dutch round at Assen Saturday, but said the real "hero" had been his Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo who took a brave fifth.’

Spain’s Marca newspaper described Lorenzo as a 'hero' and Rossi as a 'legend', who both ‘honour motorcycling’.

Marca described how Lorenzo ‘shed tears of pain as he dismounted his bike to a standing ovation from the crowd,’ quoting the exhausted Mallorcan as saying, "I suffered throughout, the muscles in that part of my body felt dead. I'm happier than with any win. The tears were from the effort I put in."

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport noted that Rossi had ‘waited for almost 1,000 days to step up onto the centre spot of the podium and give vent to his joy.’

They quoted the nine-time World Champion as saying, "This is just so incredibly gratifying after such a long time. I'm really grateful to everyone who stood by me."

The plaudits continued on Twitter with American motorsport legend Mario Andretti tweeting, ‘Fab race P1 @ValeYellow46 in #Assen @MotoGP also unbelievable ride by Jorge @lorenzo99 with broken c/bone P5. #truechampions’.

Andretti’s compatriot Ben Spies, who missed the Assen round due to injury, added on Twitter, ‘Been watching GP's now since 88. The harden up phrase now goes to @lorenzo99! #epic’.

Meanwhile, motogp.com commentator Gavin Emmett tweeted perhaps the best quote of the day which had come from Lorenzo himself, ‘Interviewer, "You're a hero". JL99 "No, heroes are those who work hard just to reach the end of each month. I get paid to do these things."’